Yes! In the end the books and courses just lead us to sit with our feelings and deal with them. Reading about it really doesn't fix it. Bummer, because that would be much easier!
That is only sometimes true, I think. There are a lot of people with plenty of knowledge and experience who can't make a profit because they can't keep a cool head.
Psychology is the hang up for the 90+% losers out there. Screen hypnosis, analysis paralysis, hesitation, fear, greed and the list goes on and on. When a person possesses a quantifiable edge and is a little weak in the shorts, then the big boy word will only help you just a little. There are plenty of top guns out there with very few bullets. When a trader can press the real money trigger as easy as turning on a light switch, well that's the biggest step forward. The Golden symmetry in trading is Money, Knowledge and being able to control your emotions. The latter is the hardest for all of us humans. Markets will always find your weakness.
This is textbook bullshit, and you know it. Knowledge and skill is the major barrier. Only a small minority can grasp the market mechanics and win.
I don't know, no matter how good one's grasp is if they're too scared to make a trade one still won't make a profit.
Any competent adult shouldn't be scared to fill their pockets with money. Hundreds of clowns here on ET will provide you emotional support, but not one real trader will give you a detailed approach on how to apply their working method. Bits and pieces is all you'll get, and I understand why.
I've seen competent adults lose their jobs (unemployment) just because the company they work for is bankrupt. I've seen competent adults lose their farm just because the weather doesn't cooperate for a few consecutive years. I've seen competent adults then become scared to fill their pockets with money because they know there are things they can't control that can have a dramatic impact on the finances. The problem is that some people are involved in the markets when financially they should not be involved. They then put money in the market that's really "scared money" because they can not afford to lose it even if its money they don't need now but its money they'll need at a later date. Maybe that's why I see some say trading is not for low income or today's middle class. As to the issue about emotional support at a forum, blog, twitter or whatever...I have a tough time swallowing that notion because of the problem with being "anonymous". Providing advice is one thing and doesn't often qualify as "emotional support". It just qualifies as advice. In contrast, real "emotional support" would require a trader to give a lot of one on one personal time to the other trader...doing such takes a lot of time, energy and the proper background. I've never seen anyone do such at ET beyond seeing someone give helpful trading tidbits that's really not meant to be emotional support. http://www.wikihow.com/Give-Emotional-Support https://us.corwin.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/21141_Chapter_10.pdf Therefore, for us traders within markets changing multiple times each year for different reasons...real emotional support between two traders would have to last the lifetime of the trading career. Maybe that's why many professional athletes have sports psychologists for most of their athletic career...its just not something you can resolve in a week or month. It's always ongoing and very expensive when done privately (e.g. tennis players) but a lot less expensive (almost free) when its done by a sports team with a sports psychologist on staff (e.g. University of Alabama football team, almost all the Olympic sports). Simply, most of us at forums are anonymous and in no position to provide real emotional support...we really do not personally know the other person. In fact, to some here at ET...there's no brotherhood. Its just capitalism...trying to take money from someone else trying to take money from you...its that simple.